How to Discourage People from Thinking
(and be proud of it)

1. Either pick a group of people that you don't understand (but are afraid of) or make up a fictitious group of people in your head that are vague projections of your phobias.

2. Choose a name for them. If you make up a name, pick one that sounds sinister. If you borrow a name for them, be sure you don't pick a name that already refers to a group that is widely understood. That way, nobody can question your assigning this label to this group. "liberal" is a good example, but other labels have also worked well, e.g. "welfare mother", "deadbeat dad", "communist", "pagan", "hacker", etc. Ethnic or racial labels can also work well, especially if you can exploit pre-existing prejudices. Labels like "queer" and "dyke" also work - because people think they know what those words mean and think they know what such people are like even if they don't actually know any queers or dykes.

3. Arbitrarily assign a bunch of unreasonable and/or exaggerated characteristics to that group.

4. Now criticize that group vehemently at every opportunity. Pick extreme examples of people who seem to fit the pattern and act as if they are typical of that group. If you can't find any real examples, just make some up and give them stories that the media will find attractive.

5. Once you've succeeded in creating a public perception of your fictitious or ill-defined group, and in turning your label for that group into a perjorative, you can blame all manner of ills on them. If the group doesn't really exist, they can't defend themselves. And even if your target group vaguely resembles a real group of people (because you've misappropriated their name and/or misrepresented the group) they'll be reluctant to defend themselves because by doing so they'll seem to be defending the very despicable traits and practices you're attacking. If they try to say "we're not really like that" the media will give them no exposure, since it isn't titillating.

6. Enjoy your book royalties or the proceeds from your AM radio show.